Conventional television sets use a physical analog tuner section for receiving RF-modulated signals from wireless broadcasts or from set-top boxes. FIG. 1 shows an overview of one such conventional tuner module 102. The tuner module 102 includes an RF amplifier for amplifying RF-modulated signals from a wireless source (such as a terrestrial antenna). A mixer mixes the RF-modulated signal with a signal supplied by a local oscillator to produce an intermediate frequency (IF) signal. In a manner well known in the art, a user can select a channel (and corresponding frequency) by controlling an input signal fed to the local oscillator 108. An IF amplifier 110 amplifies the IF signal. A video detector/VSB demodulator demodulates the video signal component of the signal fed into it. A YUV to RGB converter 114 converts the resultant signal from a luma-related color space (e.g., YUV) to an Red Green Blue (RGB) format for output to a display device 116 (which typically comprises a CRT-based device having phosphors that are driven by the R, G and B components of the resultant video signal). A sync separator 118 supplies timing information which governs the operation of the display device 116. As to the audio component of the input signal, an FM audio demodulator 120 demodulates the audio component of the input signal and sends the resultant signal to a speaker device 122. Commonly, a television set will include a single tuner module 102, or, on some cases, two such tuner modules.
Analog tuner modules of the type described above have a number of drawbacks. First, these tuners are typically expensive. Second, these tuners are commonly constructed from discrete electrical components, and are thus single-use modules that cannot easily be adapted to perform other tasks. For instance, a single analog tuner module can only process one channel at a time. This places limitations on the capabilities of the television set which uses such a tuner, and also places significant constraints on the business models used to deliver media information to users. Third, and obviously, analog tuner modules cannot directly accommodate the processing of signals that are not modulated by respective different frequencies.
For at least the above-identified reasons, there is an exemplary need for more satisfactory tuner module designs and associated business methods for utilizing these designs.